Because of continuously more stringent laws regarding trash, the question of how to reduce the amount of packaging trash has become more and more important in the field of the packaging industry. This question is also important because the new rules state that the manufacturer is required to take back the packaging trash created in the course of selling his goods. Up to now, throw-away packaging was used for packaging a multitude of containers, such as beer cans, which are discarded as trash directly after use and are the cause of the resulting enormous amount of so-called packaging trash. Furthermore, so-called paper or cardboard recycling is no longer as advantageous as it used to be, because today an extremely large amount of paper and cardboard is generated, with the result that these amounts of paper and cardboard can no longer be completely processed.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a novel multiple packaging which assures a considerable reduction of the packaging trash resulting from packaging and thus a reduction of the amounts of packaging which have to be accepted back by the manufacturer.
In accordance with the invention, this object is attained in that the blank is firmly connected, preferably glued, with each container at least at one lateral surface, by means of which a display area of the blank is provided which is firmly connected with the container. The non-glued sections of the blank form connecting links between the adjoining containers and the blank can be separated in the area of the connecting links.
The invention is based on the concept of using at least a part of the packaging as a display surface, i.e. for the marking of containers required by the labeling laws. The display area remains connected with the containers when cutting the respective connecting links. The print and advertising areas provided in the display areas remain on the container. Thus, no or only a small amount of packaging trash is generated when separating the multiple packaging. In addition, the multiple packaging of the invention offers the advantage that the containers to be packaged need no longer be individually labeled. Labeling and multiple packaging take place in a single production step. By means of this the manufacturing costs are considerably decreased, in addition to the savings in packaging trash.
In a particular embodiment of the invention, the blank has a plurality of containers in a single file. The multiple packaging, i.e. bundle, thus is in the form of a chain, from which the containers can be separated as needed.
Furthermore, it has been provided by the invention that the blank encloses the lateral areas of the container over their full circumference, because of which particularly large display surfaces are created and at the same time a particularly great stability of the bundle is assured.
Alternatively to this, a further embodiment of the packaging of the invention is distinguished in that the blank encloses the lateral parts only over a portion of the circumference, preferably only over one half. By means of this step it is possible to assure, particularly in view of packaging trash, a savings in needed packaging material, while sufficient display surfaces still remain. Furthermore, the application of the packaging is particularly simple in this embodiment, because the containers only need to be labeled on one side.
The containers are suitably arranged perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the row. In this case, separation of the packaging takes place along the lateral surface in the longitudinal direction of each container. This embodiment has a particularly high degree of lateral mobility of the bundle, which might be of interest in connection with certain types of stacking or storage.
A packaging in accordance with the invention which is particularly original from the viewpoint of its arrangement is distinguished in that the containers are arranged, resting with their respective fronts on each other, parallel to the longitudinal direction of the row. For one thing, packaging embodied in this way is relative simple to store, for another, it is possible by means of this to offer packs of three which are very effective for advertising, for example as a "tower". Separation of the individual containers takes place along the circumference.